Hive restaurant is located on the third floor of Selfridges, London

Tomorrow, Hive restaurant officially opens its doors on the third floor of Selfridges with a creative honey-based menu

For thousands of years, honey has been used as a natural sweetener and remedy to help reduce anxiety, calm insomnia, and combat fatigue. Drawing on this multitude of benefits, Khalid Samata, the founder of Selfridges’ newest concept restaurant Hive, has created an innovative menu incorporating different types of honey into an all day-dining menu which includes a cheese and honey afternoon tea and honey-based cocktails such as the Nutty Naughty Bee – a mix of gin, lemon juice, Tonka bitter and chestnut honey. The breakfast menu features decadent dishes such as fig on toast with ricotta and honey, and truffle honey omelette, whilst the lunch and dinner menus focus on fresh, lighter options.

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Hive’s range of honey includes flavours such as acacia, chestnut and buckwheat

The restaurant produces and harvests its own range of flavoured honey from a collection of rooftop hives, and the interiors of the dining room itself have been designed to create a calming, elegant atmosphere with gold detailing and a collection of colourful flower boxes which have been pollinated by the resident bees.

Hive opens on 4 December 2020 on the third floor of Selfridges, London. For more information visit: hiverestaurant.uk

Rebecca Louise Law’s cherry blossom canopy at Sake No Hana

Mayfair’s Sake No Hana restaurant by the Hakkasan Group celebrates the Japanese ‘sakura’ season with an installation of intertwining cherry blossom branches and a limited-edition menu. LUX enjoys Hideki Hiwatashi’s contemporary take on hanami – the Japanese feast that celebrates cherry blossom season and the start of spring – beneath the seasonal blooms.

Sakura begins in the south of Japan around February and finishes in the north at the end of May. Fortunately, the 24,000 flowers carefully installed by East-London artist Rebecca Louise Law at Mayfair’s Sake No Hana are hand-dried and preserved to last forever. However, they’ll only be visible on the restaurant’s wooden beamed ceiling until the end of June, providing the ideal backdrop for a contemporary hanami feast.

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Traditionally served at a Japanese cherry blossom picnic, Head Chef, Hideki Hiwatashi has dreamt up a new take on the traditional feast; a culinary reflection of the season’s celebrations and the transient beauty of the blossoms.  The special hanami cocktail blends lavender bitters and Akashi-tai honjozo, whilst the culinary offerings are typically innovative of the brand.

The sakura sushi platter

Our highlights were the bamboo leaf wrapped sea bass nigiri, tied prettily with a golden wire (it looks almost too good to eat), and the char-grilled rib eye beef with chilli ponzu. The most decadent option is the salmon served with a reach champagne yuzu miso sauce and pickled carrot and celery, which resemble pink blossoms. And for desert, a bitter chocolate, cherry delice that melts in the mouth. Enjoy the transient tastes while they last.

The sakura menu and art installation will be available at Sake No Hana until 18th June
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